The existence of Copeland Park as a creative hub, home to a diverse community of artists, dates all the way back to the late 1990s. It wasn’t until 2013, however, that a more direct approach was taken in forming a ‘small business and arts incubator’ in the heart of Peckham. Over the next few years, the Copeland community grew and many of the businesses that have become staples of the local area moved in. Now in 2025, many of these stalwarts of our site are celebrating anniversary milestones, and over the coming months we will be highlighting these achievements with profiles on some of our longest standing residents. The first of which is The Kiln Rooms.

For Co-Founders Ben and Stuart, their Copeland story started with a moment of good fortune. After securing funding for a new business venture they were scouring London for a prime location. When a deal for a proposed site fell through, the pair sent out a blanket email to everywhere they had previously viewed during their search.

“[Copeland Park Director] Tim was the first one to reply back to us, saying a new space had become available at Copeland.” From there everything moved quickly and The Kiln Rooms soon opened its doors on Bussey Alley.

The Kiln Rooms built off the success of open access model studios that had been popular in America and Australia and were beginning to take off in London. “Waiting lists were long at other studios, so we knew there would be interest.”

Ben and Stuart’s plan pre-dated London’s pottery boom however. The pair met during their time at the Royal College of Art in the late 00s. Stuart was studying an MA in Ceramics whilst Ben was managing the Students’ Union bar and events. “We joked that we would probably open a bar of our own somewhere, someday.”

Over time this morphed into a pottery studio. With Stuart teaching evening classes across London, he could handle the technical, teaching side of the business and Ben could take over the management and operations in what was the perfect split of duties – a fact they laugh about. “Us working on different parts of the business is probably a major reason why our friendship has remained intact.”

A decade later and this model is still going strong. In 2021 The Kiln Rooms moved from Bussey Alley into a bigger studio tucked away in the corner of Copeland Park, offering members more space, more time and quieter surroundings. They’ve also added two more Peckham-based studios to their collection – one in Peckham Levels which deals solely in 12-week starter courses and another membership model studio on Bellenden Road. Ben and Stuart recently spread their wings further afield too, opening a studio in Farringdon just last year.

The Kiln Rooms has solidified its place in the local community over the years, and for Ben and Stuart, “to think of The Kiln Rooms, is to think of Copeland Park and of Peckham.” Relationships like this don’t occur overnight and have been built over the years but there was a strong connection from the off, “we have always had a fair, honest and transparent relationship with the management here and this has been an influence on how we wanted to run The Kiln Rooms, especially, as we were new to running a business back in 2015.”

This engrained relationship is clear after spending any time on site, where it is easy to spot Kiln Room members from their clay covered overalls. Existing within this current renaissance for hands-on making, The Kiln Room’s membership is made up of a very broad base with diverse and interesting backgrounds all united by a love of pottery. “People are coming at things from all different angles which creates a huge breadth of styles.” The range of creativity at The Kiln Rooms is put on show each year during their open exhibitions which date back to 2015 – a memory that sticks out, “It was a fairly new idea to open up the studio in that way and we were overwhelmed by the amount of people that showed up to that first Christmas show.”

Away from pottery there have been a host of highlights over the past decade, numerous Peckham Festivals, the joy of regular visits to Khan’s Bargains, watching World Cups and Euros on Social’s big screen, as well as staff meetings in the beer garden that have morphed into dinner and many drinks. “We love the easy switch between work and play here.” The biggest testament to this being that Ben held his engagement party in the Copeland Park studio.

This June, to celebrate their 10-year milestone, The Kiln Rooms are throwing a special free festival across their Copeland Park and Bellenden Road studios. This will include a members sale, an exhibition with dozens of makers displaying work, guest speakers featuring a selection of leading figures from the world of ceramics, a panel discussion chaired by Crafts Council’s Creative Director, Natalie Melton, workshops in collaboration with ClayGround Collective and live demonstrations – all a decade in the making! Here’s to another 10 years of The Kiln Rooms at Copeland Park.

The Kiln Rooms Festival runs 5-8th June 2025 – events are free but booking is essential for some.

You can find their Copeland Park studio in Unit 3.